50 Year Old Time Capsule Unsealed On Friday, August 7

August 6, 2020

On Friday, August 7, 2020, the Abbotsford International Airshow Society was joined by National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun to open a time capsule sealed in 1970. While the first Abbotsford International Airshow took place in 1962, the unsealing of the time capsule was in honour of the  Airshow being named as “Canada’s National Airshow” fifty years ago by then Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

The contents were located in a cairn, now situated at the Abbotsford International Airport terminal, constructed from rocks from around the world, including a piece of the London Bridge and a rock from the Swiss Alps. Found inside were various messages, including one from the late former Prime Minister Pierre and other dignitaries. Also found were several slide images of speculative ‘aircraft and spacecraft of the future’ and memorabilia from the 1970 Airshow.

A new time capsule will be entombed with the intention of re-opening in 2070.

“When the capsule was sealed in 1970, it would have been outrageous to consider that our 2020 Airshow would be cancelled due to a global pandemic,” says Abbotsford International Airshow President, Jim Reith. “We are still excited to celebrate Airshow weekend in a different way this year. We will see what’s inside the time capsule on Friday, and on Saturday we look forward to presenting a special online 2020 Virtual Abbotsford International Airshow at 1PM on Saturday, August 8.”